Harry's Christmas

Christmas has in recent years become almost a parody of itself, considering how overwhelming and all consuming its more commercial aspects have become. We rate our Christmases on how many presents we receive, how many parties we attend or how much booze we drink. 

How sobering then to sit in the intimate space of the King's Head Theatre, transformed convincingly into a shabby living room, and sit with lonesome Harry, who judges the success of his own Christmas on how many Christmas cards he’s received.

Considering the play was first performed in 1985 we might think of Christmas cards today as a fond anachronism. In our age of digital greeting cards and social media we might have assumed they’d die a death. But Harry’s card counting still carries huge emotional weight as a symbol of his helpless yearning for connection and human contact, far more I think than any text message ever could. 

The evening opens with the sounds of bubbly Xmas pop carelessly muzaking away in the background. As we take our seats we notice Harry in grey tracksuit bottoms, white T-shirt and sturdy square glasses blithely decorating his tree. The atmosphere is one of festive ease but the undercurrent of despair is already seeping through. Harry in his drabness already seems out of step with the dazzling silver baubles and colourful foil tinsel of his Christmas tree. The scene is set for a tale of conflict between the high expectations of jovial socialising, and the hard reality of loneliness, anguish and marginalisation.

At 70 minutes with no interval this play is shaped to provide a sharply intense nugget of emotional trauma that punches hard and fast. Steve Smith as our eponymous (anti)hero delivers in spades. He captures painfully the disintegration from Harry's early optimism, a hope that if he reaches out someone might take his hand, to his despairing conviction that he’s all alone in the world. It's gut-wrenching to watch. Smith’s thoughtful portrayal really foregrounds the courage it takes to keep pushing forward day after day through depression, to challenge the dark voices in your head and to search for grains of hope in an empty sack. Smith instilled Harry with a dignity that made him, ironically, both a Everyman character and an exceptional figure worthy of our awe and pity.

And perhaps that’s the core message of this timely and stirring piece. That we’re all the heroes of our own plays, facing struggles and challenges that those around us might be entirely oblivious to, but which can literally be matters of life and death. As we draw to Harry's inevitable tragic conclusion, he's dressed not in grey, but in paper crown and garish Christmas jumper, his pain hidden under the frippery of the season.

Fitting then that this production is in association with the charity CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably). If you’d like to donate please follow this link.

The direction by Scott Le Crass was top notch, making full use of the space in what could have been a very static production. The sound design and music by Julian Starr helped lift the play’s energy and zest, while the fairy light ceiling and phone work both deserve special mention as examples of how attention to detail can have a huge impact on storytelling. It plays till December 24th. My advice: cut through the Christmas schmaltz and go.